"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"Peter was grieved, because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me ?" -John 21:17 [KJV] Peter had grieved his Lord by three denials of Him. Now his Lord grieves him with three questions, respecting his love to Him. We may often read our sin in our punishment. Peter’s Lord suffered him to fall, to lower his pride and self-confidence. Now He has caused him to descend to the valley of humiliation, He keeps him there.  A little while since, he boasted of his superlative love to Christ, above all the rest of His disciples. “Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended—I am ready to go with Thee both into prison and to death—Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny thee.” Bold words! who can doubt of the sincerity of Peter’s heart in all this?  Hence learn, (1st.) The warm frames of young converts, are often attended with great self-confidence. There is much of nature’s fire in them. My heart has often rejoiced, and...

"Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" -Isaiah 21:11 [KJV] While this solemn inquiry may be supposed to have peculiar reference, as addressed to the servants of the Lord, whom He hath set as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, may it not be made personally to every man's bosom also, as it refers to himself? And the repeating of it twice should seem to imply the importance and earnestness with which it should be followed up.  My soul, what is the night with thee? Art thou watching in it more than they that watch for the morning: yea, I say, more than they which watch for the morning? How art thou exercising this watchfulness? Is all safe respecting thine everlasting welfare? Art thou watching the approaches of the enemy?  Art thou watchful in prayer; watchful for the gracious moment of the Spirit's helping thee in prayer; watchful in guiding thee in the exercise of it; watchful of the Lord's gracious answers to prayer; and, like the ...

"Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses." -Psalm 107:6 [KJV] Oh what a mercy it is that there is a God to go to! a God who hears and answers prayer! And what a blessing it is to be able to unbosom before Him the burdened spirit! Observe the words: "Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble." If you have trouble it is a sufficient warrant for you to go to God with it. Do not trouble yourself with the question, whether you are elect or non-elect. God does not put it in that shape, and you need not. The answer will best shew on which side of the line you stand.  Does He not say: "Call upon Mme in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me ? " If you have a day of trouble, you have here a sufficient warrant to call upon God. Write not, then, bitter things against yourself. If you are enabled to sigh and cry unto the Lord there is life in your soul. God has quicken...

  The Gospel and the Believer . Part 5 福音和信徒（之五） D. G. Miles McKee   Just as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" -Romans 5:19 因一人的悖逆，众人都成为罪人；照样，因一人的顺从，众人也成为义了。（罗马书5:19）   Ruin and redemption were the result of the actions of two men, Adam and Christ. They were our representatives, Strictly speaking, ruin and redemption had nothing to do with our experience! We were neither there in the Garden when Adam ruined us nor were we there at Calvary when Jesus rescued us.   堕落和救赎分别是两个人作为的结果，亚当和基督。他们是我们的替代，严格来讲，堕落和救赎与我们的经历无关！亚当在伊甸园使我们堕落时，我们并不在那里，耶稣在加略山拯救我们时，我们也不在那里。 Christ Jesus is now our new representative man. He is the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) and the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47). 耶稣基督是我们现在的新代表。祂是末后的亚当（哥林多前书15:45）是第二个人（哥林多前书15:47）。 When Jesus lived and died He did so for us. All that He accomplished is now reckoned to us! What a marvelous inheritance we have in Christ Jesus! Just ...

The Wonderful Name of Jesus. by D G Miles McKee   “…call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins." -Matthew 1:21 [KJV]     Matthew 1:21 is both a promise and a prophecy. It reads,  “ Thou shalt call His name JESUS , for He shall save His people from their sins.”   Notice how Jesus was prophetically named. His name prophesied His future work.  This child would grow up and, by one great redemptive act, save His people from their sins; therefore, a word of prophecy is bound up in the very name of Jesus.    But His name is not only a prophecy, it is also a promise to we who are so ruined outside of Christ that we know we cannot save ourselves.  Listen again to the angel saying,  “He shall save.”   This is a magnificent promise. If He shall and will save us, then we should abandon all our silly and useless efforts to save ourselves!    Notice again how His parents were to,  “Call His name Jes...

"My grace is sufficient for thee."   -II Corinthians 12:9 [KJV] My soul, gather a rich cluster this morning of those precious fruits which hang upon the tree of life—even upon Jesus. Thou wilt find their taste more sweet and pleasant than all the branches of the vine. Consider the fulness in thy Lord. Such a fulness indeed, by virtue of the covenant engagements in Jehovah, is treasured up in Christ, that all the grace every individual of His seed could possibly want in time, and all the glory hereafter—all, all is lodged in Him. What a thought is here! Consider also the freeness of this grace. Never, surely, did God give any gift more free than when He gave His Son. And as the apostle from hence justly reasons: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"   When, my soul, thou hast feasted thyself upon the fulness and freeness of the fruits of Jesus' salvation, gather a...

"I have remembered Thy name, O LORD, in the night." -Psalm 119:55 [KJV] Consider, Hebrew names express the nature of the things to which they are applied. Whatever name the LORD makes Himself known by to us, is expressive of His nature, and of His covenant love and grace to us. Hence there is no name so sweet to us sinners, as that which He hath assumed, the name JESUS: The Lord, the self-existing Jehovah, Jesus.   All the glorious perfections of wisdom, love, and power, shine with the greatest lustre in that name: the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13.) All the attributes of Jehovah are magnified and glorified in that precious name. To remember the name of the Lord, is to meditate in faith, upon what He is to us, hath done for us, and hath promised to bestow upon us, as the Lord our Saviour. O what a wide field for meditation is here!  But David remembered the Lord in the night. While others were sleeping, or doing worse, he was meditating: ...